A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a model for atomic forms such as single atoms and polyatomic molecules. Such models are useful as educational or research devices.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Atoms and molecules are believed to be made up of electrically-charged electrons and nuclei. A number of theories have been advanced to explain the physical and chemical properties of atoms and molecules in terms of the positions and orbits of these atomic constituents. A theory widely believed to account for atomic and molecular structure, quantum mechanics, described atoms as having a positively charged nucleus generally surrounded by electronic orbitals. It is the view of quantum mechanics that particles such as electrons have wave-like properties and that the electronic orbitals of atoms correspond to standing waves set up by the electrons about the atomic nucleus. Each electronic orbital has a specific geometry and is able to accommodate at most only two electrons. Thus an atom or molecule having more than two electrons will necessarily have more than one electronic orbital.
The electronic orbitals of the hydrogen atom, the simplest atom, are labeled in quantum mechanics by three numbers designated n, l, and m. The principal quantum number n specifies the energy of the orbital and can take on the values of 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . The azimuthal quantum number l specifies the total angular momentum of the orbital and takes on the values of 0, 1, 2, . . .(n-1). The magnetic quantum number m specifies the component of the angular momentum along a specified direction and takes on the values 0, .+-.1, .+-.2, . . . .+-.l.
As noted above, each of these orbitals can include up to two electrons. However, when two electrons occupy a single orbital, their spin magnetic moments must be antiparallel in orientation. A fourth quantum number, termed the spin quantum number and denoted m.sub.s, specifies the orientation of the spin electron moment of an electron. The spin quantum number takes on only two values, .+-.1/2. When two electrons occupy the same orbital, the spin quantum number of one must be +1/2 and the other -1/2.
Although quantum mechanics has been relatively successful as a mathematical theory for calculating physical and chemical properties of atoms and molecules, it presents contradictions which make it difficult to understand how electrons in rapid motion are able to form structural systems in three-dimensional space. For example, in quantum mechanics the strength of materials in compression is generally viewed to be caused by a relative impenetrability of one atom or molecule to another which results from an electrical-barrier property of the matter-waves of the electrons. However, within a single atom or molecule having a plurality of electrons, the matter-waves of the electrons are viewed as sharing the common space around the nucleus, interpenetrating one another much as light waves pass through one another without obstruction. The electrical-barrier property is thus apparently not present within atoms or molecules, which seems to contradict the observed compressive strength of materials.
Moreover, it is difficult, if not impossible, to construct three-dimensional models which accurately depict for different atoms and molecules the electronic structures predicated by quantum mechanics. This problem arises because the electronic orbitals of quantum mechanics, as a result of their wave-like properties, are viewed as being able to interpenetrate one another, as noted above. It is, of course, not possible to fabricate solid models of such orbitals individually and assemble them to construct an atom or molecule, since the orbital shapes would interfere with one another rather than interpenetrate.
The question of the precise geometry of the orbits of electrons in nature has been mooted by Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty, according to which all pictures of the performance of atomic electrons must be to a certain extent hypothetical, since it is impossible to view such events directly. The present invention attributes to atomic electrons matter-wave qualities useful for them to be understood as unit structural ingredients for pairing with other electrons and for the formation of covalent bonds.
In my earlier United States Pat. No. 3,276,148 I disclose a model for atomic forms which represented the electronic structure of atoms and molecules with magnetic rings or discs. The orbitals of my earlier model, as well as the model disclosed below, can be occupied by only one electron, as opposed to the orbitals of quantum mechanics which can be occupied by one or two electrons. The circular electronic orbitals of the U.S. Pat. No. 3,276,148 patent illustrate many of the symmetries of the orbitals predicted by quantum mechanics, but are not interpenetrating. Thus a model of an atomic form can be constructed by disposing rings or discs about a model atomic nucleus. Furthermore, as discussed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,276,148 patent, by making the rings and discs magnetic, certain properties of atoms can be readily demonstrated. However, the model atomic orbitals disclosed in my earlier patent did not provide for demonstrating the effects of electron pairing, an important phenomena responsible for chemical bonding in many molecules.
I have discovered a model for atomic forms which illustrates many of the structural and magnetic features of atoms and molecules, including the effects of electron pairing.